New Friends, New Adventures
by Female Foaly
Summary: Artemis is very different now in mind and body. He meets someone new that can be more trouble then they're worth, maybe in more ways than one.
1. MudPeople

Hey, this is my second fan fic. If you wanna read my first, its 'The Answer in the Eye'. I decided to start another one, 'cus I had a load of new ideas, and I totally messed up my first one by getting a major fact wrong ( so im doing this one instead. Summary: This chapter is all about the main himan characters in the books, and wont contain any fairies in it. Its just basically telling you what they are like now. Next chapter will be telling you about the fairies, then the exciting parts will begin.  
  
NEW FRIENDS, NEW ADVENTURES  
  
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 1  
  
It had been five years since Artemis Fowl's last meeting with the fairys, though in that time he had re-discovered the People, and recovered his lost memories. Along with his memories, his new personality came. The personality with the spark of decency had left with his memory, and now he had them both back. Because of this, Artemis decided to leave them alone. To not cause any more trouble with his friends. The fairies still believed Artemis to be mind-wiped.  
  
He was now 18, and the change from the last five years was extraordinary. He still had bright, blue eyes, raven hair, and pale skin. But now his eyes, if you looked deep enough, showed a teenager with intellect far superior to his peers, but also with a good heart softened by new friends deemed worthy of his attention years back. It was a pity that he wasn't supposed to know about these friends. He had matured by teenage standards to make his raven hair work for him, and look 'cool' as it was commonly called these days. His pale skin, now did not look as though he sat in front of a computer all day, but looked natural, and different, making him more appealing to all girls, not just his age.  
  
His face wasn't the only thing to change. Now he had grown taller, to the height of 6' 3". He pulled this off too, as he had the proportions just right so he didn't look too gangly. After the Arctic Incident and the Eternity Code incident, Artemis had decided that he had procrastinated long enough, and decided to work out, and train himself to defend others, as well as himself. Because of this, he was strong and fast, but also maintained his gracefulness, meaning that he could still move into a room making no noise at all. A skill very rare for males, let alone those of his size and age. The training also gave him confidence. He no longer needed a Butler with him to feel safe. He also wore more casual clothes, and looked like a decent person instead of an arrogant berk. His mother decided that he no longer needed counselling. Something Artemis missed (though he wouldn't admit it to anyone) as he no longer had anyone to play his mind games with.  
  
Artemis had recently began university, and, unlike with his schools, became instantly popular. He was admired and respected for his intellect, and constantly made other lads jealous of his looks, though none of them acted on it because they knew he was skilled in defence too, and could easily take them out if he wanted too.  
  
However much Artemis Fowl may have changed over the years, his bodyguard, Domovoi Butler, certainly hadn't. He still maintained his hair only ½ a centimetre from his scalp, his height, weight and strength. He still dressed like a bouncer, and the expressions he could pull could send some of the bravest men running with their tails between their legs. One thing to have changed with Butler, is his speed. Unfortunately, along with the other memories came the one about how Butler gave his life for Artemis and was technically dead while Artemis performed cryopreservation and got Holly Short of the LEP to save him. However, the gunshot wound enclosed other substances into Butlers chest, the result being that his breathing was very restricted, and got out of breath just from walking up stairs. Ever since Butler devoted a lot of time to working out and exercising in the hopes of getting his breathing back. At the same time, Artemis, feeling incredibly guilty for bringing about Butlers 'death', was working on something to cure Butler of this, in his spare time between school work, friends, eating and sleeping.  
  
Meanwhile, Artemis' parents are now back together, and are happier than ever, working on getting the Fowl Enterprises legitimate. His Mother was in full mental health, and had been for some time. She still wore the priceless necklace Artemis gave her A.N. in the Seventh Dwarf every day to remind her of the two men in her life that she loved more than the world itself. Artemis Fowl Senior was also in full health, although his leg could not be replaced. He had a complete change in character, and now had his entire list of priorities straight, as though he had been thinking about them the whole time when he had been missing.  
  
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Artemis Fowl Junior was preparing for his second term at University, thinking happily that although he could not spend as much time on Butlers antidote, he would finally be with his friends once more. Little did he know, that there would be one more friend to make this term, that he hadn't counted on, and could be a lot more trouble than they were worth... 


	2. Fairies

Hey! Chapter 2, here we go! Please R&R, cus otherwise I don't think that people are reading it! Summary: Basically the same as the first chapter, only about the main fairy characters, not human ones. The story begins properly next chapter.  
  
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 2  
  
Five years is practically no time for a fairy. In the LEP virtually all fairies have to stay in their positions for over twenty years before being promoted. But although five years is only a tiny portion of their life, their personalities can change almost the same as much as the mudpeoples.  
  
In the case of Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon, some changes have occurred faster than others. She had kept her stunning appearance, being one centimetre under the average height, with cropped auburn hair, soft cherubic lips and bright hazel eyes. These hazel eyes not only looked the same, but maintained the same determination it had six years previously, but in addition had more experience set into them in a few years than several fairies had in fifteen years. This was because of the three incidences with Artemis Fowl. He was now mind-wiped, much to the relief of almost the whole LEP. Almost.  
  
Holly missed the mud boy, for reasons she could not quite fathom. When he was twelve, and had first kidnapped her, he was evil, and Holly desperately wanted to wrap her long tapered fingers around his throat and squeeze the breath out of him. But then in the second incident, Holly had noticed a change in Artemis. He risked his life for his father, and although he had nearly killed her by taking all her magic, it was an accident and so he put forth all his efforts to restore her back to her usual self. When they had come to part, he stuttered thanks to her, which, although they needed practise, went straight to her heart, and softened it towards the mud boy she detested for so long. In the third and final incident, he nearly got Butler killed with one of his plans, and called the fairies to go to any lengths to save his best and only friend. Unfortunately Holly had been forced to mind-wipe Artemis and the two Butlers. This had hurt Holly the most, and had scarred her permanently. Though after five years she was finally able to push Artemis to the back of her mind and get on with her job in her usual spunky way.  
  
Holly's best friend, Foaly, LEP technician, was similar. This charming centaur was the brains of the LEP, and however sarcastic and annoying he was, he was irreplaceable. Foaly always looked forward to giving complicated explanations. However, Artemis was the only one who ever understood them. Foaly sorely missed having another genius to talk to, but at the same time, he was also beginning to see Artemis' change in character, even though he didn't spend as much time with him as Holly. Holly was one of the centaurs only friends, so when something happened to her, he became very worried about her, and would do anything to help. He also saw how upset she was about mind-wiping the mud-people, and seeing her snap down her visor to hide her tears and fly off into the night hurt him nearly as much as it hurt Holly. He had also come to terms with Artemis' loss of memory, and could now be seen as usual, with his tombstone teeth bared and crinkles surrounding his bright blue eyes from laughter, and his browny-blonde hair messy yet stylish as he barely spares a second for his looks every morning as he is eager to get into work.  
  
Commander Julius Root, however, was the opposite to Holly and Foaly. He did notice the mud-boys change, but he wasn't prepared to leave him and his memories alone. Root was still commander, and he was getting far too old to be dealing with incidents involving Artemis fowl, though it was good to be given a taste of what life was like as a captain, and having rules to break like Holly Short seemed to do a bit too often. He still had the nickname Beetroot from the extraordinary shades of red and purple his face could make when you got him angry enough. However, that was now a rarity, as two years ago he had a mild heart attack when two new captains had filled his office with troll waste and stolen all his fungus cigars. He had since been put on an anger management course, that had proven just about successful so far. Just about.  
  
Holly Short of the LEPrecon was sitting her office drinking a cup of nettle juice and reading a news paper when Foalys picture came up on the plasma screen in front of her. She rushed to hide the news paper and make it look like she was working, but she knew it was too late.  
  
"Hey Hols, that's, erm... interesting paper work you're doing there. I haven't seen that before, maybe I should go to Julius and ask him."  
  
He made to go to a button to connect him to the commander, but Holly spoke first. She knew he wouldn't do it really, but she still came back at him.  
  
"Forget it, Pony. Be careful, or you might find your carrots suddenly go missing. Besides, you'll only get a pay cut for calling him Julius anyway."  
  
Foaly avoided her eyes. He didn't like budget jokes. "OK Holly, back to business. I need you over in the Ops Booth. Now. Bring Julius with you." He threw her a dazzling grin, and terminated the connection. 


	3. Match Made in Heaven

Hey peeps, I hope you are all well! Now I realise Artemis might not act the same or talk the same, but he is supposed to be very different now. Please let me know what you all think of the new main character... is she ok? O yeah, disclaimer: nothing is mine, except Ruth Valie, but u can have her if you want ( Summary: in this chappie, Artemis settles down and meets a new friend, in an interesting way. Then an o so lovely group of 5 bring them closer together. We also meet Artemis' room mates. Last thing...this took me hours to do and is 13 pages long, so please R&R!!!  
  
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 3  
  
Artemis Fowl was alone in his dorm unpacking his suitcase. He had just finished when one of his two room mates walked in with his suitcase. Tom Wheyman. Though he wasn't a genius like Artemis, Tom had an above average IQ, and was a genuinely nice person. He was generous, and forgiving. Everyone doubted that he had any enemies. Tom was slightly shorter than Artemis, and had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Like Artemis, he had straight, white teeth. He was extremely attractive, and always managed to charm the girls.  
Tom stopped half way through the doorway and stared at Artemis. After a second, he rushed to the end of his bed setting his suitcase on the floor before walking up to Artemis and shaking his hand.  
"Artemis! How did I know you'd be the first one here? How are you?"  
"I'm very good my friend, very good!" replied Artemis, flashing Tom a smile. "How about you? Was your journey up here all right?"  
Tom shuddered before answering. "I'm not too bad, my sister told my Dad that she had a boyfriend on the way up... that wasn't such a good idea as it turned out. Not the best memory of a family when you've moved out, but I suppose it happens to everyone."  
Tom had barely finished talking when a third person walked in through the open door. This lad was much shorter than Artemis and Tom, standing at 5' 8". However, though his height was much less, he had looks to match Artemis and Tom. He had short brown hair with the smallest amount of gel to keep it slightly spiked, deep brown eyes, and skin significantly darker since the last time he had seen his room mates. "Hey Will! Decide to escape somewhere warm for Christmas did you?" commented Artemis raising an eyebrow.  
Will ignored his comment, but walked through the door with wide eyes as though he had just seen a ghost.  
Tom took his suitcase off Will, who still hadn't put it down. "What's up with you? Seen you're reflection in a mirror have you?" It was a harmless jibe. All three of them knew they did it out of affection.  
Will ignored that comment too. "Did you see her?" Artemis and Tom looked at each other sideways, confused. Artemis decided to ask first.  
"Yes, we have. But whether it is the same 'she' that you saw would be a different matter. Perhaps you could be more specific and we may be able to understand you."  
Will rolled his eyes impatiently. "There's a new girl. Trust me, you'd know if you saw her." This time is was Tom's turn. "OK. So, what does she look like? You can't come to us all wide-eyed and not give us any details!" Will grinned. Now he was getting their Attention. He sat down on the bed, maintaining eye contact with both of them. They Sat down with him, waiting for him to explain. "There's this new girl. She's starting a term late 'cus she moved here from somewhere else. No one knows where, and I have yet to find her name." Now Artemis was starting to get impatient. He got up and closed the door, then sat back down staring at Will to get his point across. Will stared back, then as Artemis raised an eyebrow, he laughed. "Ok, Ok guys, I'll tell you. She's got long red hair, pale skin, bright green eyes. White straight teeth, and she's slim, but not too slim." He grinned at them. "and sexy" he added as an after thought. Artemis was intrigued. This girl sounded very attractive, but he couldn't go on looks alone. Tom appeared to be thinking along the same lines when he asked "what else do you know? Music? Dress sense?" Artemis smirked. He knew Toms taste in girls. There was one group that didn't stand a chance with him. They were the ones with skin tight trousers and horrible shoes, who plastered their fake blonde hair flat to their heads, and rolled makeup over themselves relentlessly. Artemis used to only listen to classical music, but as he became more like his age, he stared listening to music people his age did too, though he still appreciated the great musical composers, like Mozart. Will's grin spread even further. "She was wearing earphones and flicking through CDs as I walked past. All stuff you both like. Everything from Stereophonics though to Linkin Park. She was wearing jeans. Baggy, except for round the ass. Its not too tight round the ass though. Just tight enough. She was also wearing one of those strap top things, but that was plain white. Converse shoes too, always good. Oh yeah, after all that I told you about how she looks, she looks that hot without any make up! As far as I can tell, y'know." Artemis nodded. "Yes, most makeup products you cant even see now. They're most commonly used in covering up things like acne. Quite a waste of time, makeup only makes it worse -" Tom decided to stop it there. "Ok Artemis, we get it" he said, laughing. It was times like this that the intellectual part of Artemis shines through his sociable side. Will was still day dreaming about the New Girl. Tom looked at the clock in the corner. "Guys, its ten to six. There's a meeting in Lecture Theatre One at six!" The three guys stood up as one and walked out of their dorm, locking the door behind them.  
  
Artemis, Tom and Will were walking down the corridor, when Will suddenly thrust out an arm to stop his two friends. "There she is!" He said hoarsely, pointing to where a girl was in the process of locking her Dorm. She seemed to be having trouble getting her key out of the lock. She was indeed stunning. The three watched as she threw her hair over her shoulder and returned to battle with the key. Artemis was the first to recover, and walked over casually, stopping next to her. "Would you like some help with that?" "No." She said, not looking up at him. She wrestled for a second longer, then managed to get the key out. She stood up straight, and looked up at Artemis. One thing Will had not mentioned was how short she was. No one really bothered if girls were short though. She stared at him for a second, clearly as captivated by him as he was by her. She smiled at him nervously, and added "Thanks though. I'll see you round." She turned and walked away, stowing the key in her bag. Artemis watched after her, still picturing her dazzling smile in his mind. Until he felt a tug on his arm. He tore away his gaze, and turned to see Tom and Will staring at him in awe. Artemis looked at them for a second, expecting them to say something. But when he realised they were speechless, he laughed and carried on his way to the Lecture Theatre.  
  
The next morning, Artemis was the first to wake. He had a shower, dressed and was cleaning his teeth before his two roommates were getting ready too.  
Will still had the New Girl in his mind, and was chatting non-stop while the three of them got ready.  
"What do you think she's studying? I mean, maybe, if we're lucky, she'll be in our classes, right? Oh, Arty, Dude, I bet she'll be in yours. I mean, you could tell yesterday, she totally digs you!"  
Artemis was ready, and about to walk out of the door. He paused in front of the mirror to check his hair, laughing. "Yeah, whatever you say Will." He walked out to grab some breakfast before his first lecture of the day, if you can call it that.  
  
Artemis helped up his opponent in the hall of his first lecture. It was all about defence, and so was a very physical lesson. It was only for highly intellectual people, who have time. This term was devoted to fencing. Artemis had just played half of his class, and beaten them all, however experienced they were.  
"Very good Artemis, Very good!" praised his instructor. He turned back to the class. "Now, who else would like to try and beat Mr Fowl?" The instructor stood there, as if he was expecting everyone's hand to go up. None of them did. Artemis was trying not to let a grin snake across his face when one hand went up. The class parted to let them through. I very short boy walked through. If Artemis didn't know that this class was entirely boys, he would have assumed it was a girl.  
They nodded at each other, and assumed the beginning stance. They looked at each other fro a moment through their masks, then began to fight as one. This lad was certainly a very good fencer, thought Artemis, as he waved his blunt sword to protect himself. This one had already lasted much longer than the others in the class. They started to turn in a circle, then backwards and forwards as they took it in turns to attack. On Artemis' turn, he pushed his opponent back until their back was against the wall. Artemis managed to knock the sword out of their hands. He put his sword his opponents throat and took a great breath to announce that he had won. Before he had said it however, his opponent hooked their right leg around his left and pushed his right shoulder. He fell backwards, losing his sword. His opponent picked it up, put their foot on his chest and their sword to his throat.  
"I won" came the voice from behind the mask. Usually, there would be cheers from the rest of the class, but this time there was a stunned silence. Everyone could tell even from those two words that the owner of the voice was female. She dropped her sword, took her foot from Artemis' chest, and held out a hand to help Artemis up.  
Artemis took it, and brushed himself down. Then he took off his helmet slowly, indicating that his mystery opponent did the same. They did, and for a second all they saw were tumbling waves of red hair. The figure shook her head slightly, and her hair fell down neatly into place. It was the New Girl, who Artemis had helped with her key.  
She smiled at him, nervously again. "We meet again."  
There was silence still. Suddenly the instructor started clapping, and shouted "well wasn't that a surprise! Well done, Miss ... err ...?"  
"Valie" The girl completed for him. "Ruth Valie."  
The instructor started clapping again. "Yes, yes, of course Miss Valie, how could I forget. Well done, and you, Artemis, of course, well done, well done indeed... class dismissed! I shall see you all next week!"  
Ruth Valie threw Artemis another smile then turned to walk towards the girls changing rooms.  
Artemis snapped out of his shocked state and ran after her. "Ruth!"  
Ruth turned around surprised and smiled again when she saw it was Artemis. "Oh, hey ...?"  
"Artemis."  
"Hey Artemis! Sorry if I embarrassed you..."  
"What? Oh! No, you didn't embarrass me, don't worry." Said Artemis, seeing how she turned a little pink as she said it. "I just wanted to come over and say Hi, I mean, I knew that you're knew around here, so I thought that you might wanna..." Artemis' voice drained away as he thought about what he just said, and how she could interpret it.  
A smile tugged at her lips again, but Artemis didn't notice this, he was busy staring into her bright green eyes. He just managed to listen to what she was saying though.  
"Oh right! I am new here, how did you know that?" she didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "that's really nice of you to come and say hello, I mean, all the girls in my Dorm seem to hate me, and no one else has come over and said hello yet." She looked slightly down cast at this, but looked up brightly as she continued again. "But now you did! I'm sorry if I seem to make a fool of myself... like I am now, but you seem like a really lovely person!" She paused slightly and avoided his eyes as she mumbled her next sentence. "Do you mind going for lunch or something with me? Its just that I don't know where to go... I got lost on my way here, that's why I was late." She looked up into his eyes anxiously.  
Artemis stared. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He snapped himself back to reality as a smile was tugging at his lips too. "Oh, absolutely! Erm, I mean, sure that sounds great! Shall I meet you outside your Dorm at 1? Or do you want to meet a bit earlier to get away from the girls in your dorm?"  
A big grin spread across her face. Artemis noticed how clean and straight her teeth were. As she radiated honest joy, Artemis felt himself start to grin too.  
"Ooh, that sounds wonderful! Could we meet at 12?" Artemis nodded, struck dumb. "Ooh, great!" She threw her arms around his neck surprising him further. "Thank you so much! I'll see you at twelve then!" She let him go, flashed him one more smile, then walked back to her dorm.  
  
Will and Tom were amazed when they heard that Artemis was going bring Ruth back to their dorm for an hour before going to lunch. They were even more amazed when Artemis told them how she beat him at fencing. They both just stared at him. Hmm, thought Artemis, mental note: don't give Will and Tom astounding news. When they eventually came back to themselves, they sat on the beds talking while Artemis changed into his ordinary clothes again. Tom and Will shook his hand and wished him luck as he walked out the door, with a slight smile playing around his face. He was doing that more and more that day.  
Ruth wasn't there when he got to her Dorm, so he waited outside. A few minutes later, the door opened and Ruth came out, looking at the floor miserably. Artemis knew there was something wrong.  
"Hi! Erm ... are you ok?" "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at him, and saw the concerned look on his face. She giggled slightly, and linked her arm in his. "Come on," She said. "Where are we going to go?"  
Artemis was slightly relieved when he heard her giggle. He supposed it was just her room mates. "I thought we could hang out in my dorm for a bit, so you can meet my room mates – you'll love each other, trust me – then we could go out for some lunch. Does that sound ok?"  
"That sounds lovely" she said, trying not to smile. She seemed to be doing that all the time, unless she was in her dorm. "Which Dorm are you in?"  
They stopped outside Artemis' room. "here" He said. He opened the door, and stood to the side, allowing Ruth to go in first. As they stepped inside, Will and Tom stood up, grinning at Ruth and Artemis. Will stepped forward first.  
"This is Will," announced Artemis. "He's a bit excitable at times but he's fun to be around, and completely trustworthy. And a gentleman." He added, as Will kissed her hand.  
Ruth laughed as Will went and sat down again and Tom came forward to be introduced.  
"This is Tom. He's more composed than Will, but he's great fun too. I'm sure you will get on very well with both of them."  
"I'm sure I will" agreed Ruth, smiling round at them all. She was finally happy, she had friends now. Ones she could trust too, if Artemis was right. He was. Ruth could tell that about people. She had a sixth sense about people that way. It didn't help her like the girls in her dorm though. Oh well, she thought as Tom pulled out a chair for her. All I have to do is sleep in there.  
They spent the next hour chatting in Artemis' Dorm room, getting to know one another. They tried to make her seem one of them, as if she's been there from the start. They didn't want her to feel as though she's different. They could tell it was working, because she had a constant smile on her face, and had a slight pink flush on her face while she chatted to the amiably. By the time the four of them walked out of the dorm she was good friends with all three of them. Maybe this place wont be so bad after all, she thought.  
  
Artemis walked to his lecture the next day with a smile on his face. Artemis, Tom, Will and Ruth had spent the rest of the day and evening together, and when they walked her back to her dorm at eleven thirty, she gave them all a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They had organised to meet that the boys Dorm the next day at 3, after Artemis' Law lecture and Ruth's music lecture. He was walking across the university field and he saw Ruth up ahead. He started speeding up to catch up with her when he saw five other guys walk up to her and stop her. Artemis recognised them. They were the main thugs in the university, and stopped other guys to beat them up, and girls to hit on them ... maybe even go past hitting on them, to a level the girls don't usually want to be at. As Artemis started running towards her, he saw her back away from the main thug. As she tried to turn around and run, he grabbed her by the waist and pin her to the ground. Artemis nearly stopped in disgust as the thug started kissing her neck, and groping her. She squirmed underneath him, and eventually managed to kick him in his manhood and roll him off her. As Artemis reached her, the four other guys were running at her. Artemis saw Ruth start to fight them off out of the corner of his eye. Evidently she was as good at street fighting as she was at fencing. Artemis wrestled one to the ground until and held him in an arm lock, and flipped the other onto his back. When Artemis went behind Ruth she had already kicked another, and was backing away from the guy approaching her. She turned around to run and ran straight into Artemis' arms, and screamed.  
She had just realised it was her friend when she collapsed. Artemis saw the guy who she was running from with a plank in his hands, and a grin on his face. As he went to hit Artemis with it, Artemis caught it and flipped him over his back. Without hesitating, Artemis picked Ruth up and ran back to the dorm, not stopping until he was outside the door. He rushed in and lowered Ruth gently down onto his bed while Tom and Will came to see what had happened. Artemis told them inattentively while he went and got a wet cloth. He moved Ruth till she was sitting up and sat behind her. He rested her head on his chest and looked gently through her hair until he found the cut. Holding her in his arms at the same time, Artemis silently applied pressure to the cut with the cloth, praying that she would be ok.  
  
Ruth woke up to a painful throbbing in her head and something holding her around the waist. Though she didn't open her eyes, she felt strangely comfortable and .... Safe. Then she started wondering why her head hurt, and went through what she remembered last. She remembered leaving her music lecture, and setting off happily towards her friends rooms. Then she remembered a group of guys approaching her – the thugs! Suddenly she panicked, thinking she was still in the thugs arms, feeling him breathing on her neck. She opened her eyes and sat up straight trying to get away, but whoever was holding her around the waist held her even closer. Then she heard Artemis' voice in her ear. "Calm down! It's ok! It's just me. Be careful, you're bleeding from the head. Try not to move." Ruth looked around at the room she was in. Yep, it was definitely Artemis' room. There were Will and Tom too, looking at her obviously concerned. She relaxed again, settling into Artemis' strong embrace, staring at nothing to one side. "Artemis?" she clarified. "Yes. Its me. Do you remember what happened?" "Erm... I think so... but how did I get here?" "The guy who you didn't kick hit you over the head with a wooden plank. A nail went into the back of your head, but not too deeply. You'll be fine, but you'll have a headache for a couple of days. You just need to rest for the moment." "Ok. Did ... Did I lose much blood because of it?" Artemis took off the cloth from the back of her head, and checked on the wound. It looked like it had stopped bleeding, but must have been sore. He held the cloth in her line of vision. "Oh... is that it? Has it stopped bleeding?" "yes... There shouldn't be any more blood, but it will be sore." "ok." She closed her eyes as she listened to the beating of Artemis' heart. No wonder she felt so safe, he was holding her, caring for her... Tom peered into her face and chuckled slightly. "Artemis, I hope you're tired mate, she's fallen asleep!" "What? Oh..." He hadn't counted on her sleeping on him. Well he couldn't wake her now, besides... he liked how comfortably she was lying in his arms. He put down the cloth and wrapped his other arm around her. "We'll stay here with you, Arty, one of us will go and get some food in a bit though. I can imagine she'll be quite hungry when she wakes up." Said Will, settling down in a chair and watching Ruth lying comfortably on Artemis' chest. "Ahh look at that. Match made in heaven." Artemis laughed and threw a cushion at him from the chair. "Well," put in Tom cheekily, "you never know!" 


	4. Neutrino 2001s

Hello everyone! Ok, first I'd like to comment about the enormous paragraphs I seem to do – when I type these up, I do put them in proper paragraphs, but they seem to merge together :s oh well.  
  
You're summary is in this paragraph points down  
  
Identity99 – Woo my first reviewer!!! As a reward, you get a huge paragraph from me!!! Right, well, the reason why no one else had commented on my story so far is probably because I wrote and posted all three chapters in one day. Yesterday, in fact! The plot hasn't been revealed yet because I want the readers to get a basic idea of the environments the characters are in, and you get a chance to meet Ruth Valie before you're launched into the plot. In this chapter, exciting stuff is going to happen to Holly, maybe beginning the actual story line, I'm not quite sure yet, but it is a big thing and very important for our first female officer! I'm going to start having the fairies and mud people in the same chapters soon too! Lucky you... now, I see what you mean when you say how Artemis is a male Mary-Sue, but to be honest, Ruth was supposed to be the Mary-Sue! That's why she won in fencing. I know he might seem a bit perfect at the moment, but that's me trying to get across that Arty is older now, and acts more his age by making friends, doing normal teenager things, and shelving his immense knowledge sometimes so he can have a normal conversation with his friends. I also think that now Artemis is 18, he has grown into his body and can make his appearance work for him. (hehe, same goes for his room mates!) Also, Will is supposed to be completely girl-crazy, and Tom is supposed to be more placid, and not quite so driven by girls, though he does get interested in them. Maybe I should make that more clear... I'm not sure if Tom and Will will play a very big part as yet, but I promise that all three of them will show sides of themselves that aren't so perfect ( I've rambled long enough - on with the story!  
  
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 4  
  
Five minutes after Foaly's message, Holly appeared in the Ops Booth along with a red-faced Commander Root. Root was clearly not in the mood.  
"Alright, what is it this time? This had better be good." Foaly pretended to look shocked. "Since when is it not good, Julius?" Root sighed. He gave up trying to get Foaly to call him Commander a long time ago. "Since I said so, now what is it?"  
Foaly's fingers flew across the keyboard as he brought up a map onto the plasma screen. "We have a few more rogue goblins. They're in the centre of Haven City, and are causing quite a riot. They have more illegal weapons – they're a kind of neutrino, but they've adapted them to be neutrino 2001s."  
Root didn't look impressed, and merely grunted something that sounded like "original" but looked taken aback when he heard Holly gasp.  
Foaly sighed exasperated – obviously Root hadn't done any refresher courses since he was a Commander. He prepared to explain himself. "As you (Hopefully) know, the neutrinos work by shooting a laser beam into the opponent. Now these Neutrino 2001s still use lasers, but instead of killing the opponent immediately, the beam penetrates the body slowly knocking them out and gives them a virus that eats them from the inside out."  
The Commander sat down, his face no longer red but white. "Any injuries so far?"  
"Nope, but its only a matter of time. I think you should send in the LEP and try to take these goblins out. Maybe from a long distance."  
"I don't think so, Foaly. We'd need a distraction, they're bound to have goblins on watch for this sort of thing. I'm not putting any of my officers at risk when they have those Neutrino 2001s."  
Holly piped up after watching the screen. "Commander, it doesn't look like we have a choice. I'll be a distraction, while the other officers take out the goblins. I'm a good flyer, they wont get me, I beat your personal record remember."  
Foaly interrupted Root as soon as he saw he was about to say no. "It's the only way Julius. I don't want Holly to go out there either, but you have to admit, she's amazing, I don't think anyone will be able to do it any better." When Foaly said she was amazing, he hoped they thought he meant about the flying. He did, of course, but he thought it about Holly in general too. But no one was supposed to know that.  
Root appeared to be having a severe internal struggle with himself. Holly could just see the cogs inside his head turning. Finally he answered. "Alright" he snapped. "Holly, you go as a distraction. Foaly, I want you to give Holly all the gizmos you have to help her, I don't want her to have as many advantages as possible. Holly, I want you to have the best gun you can lift, fire at will with the setting on stun. All clear? Good. Holly, get yourself set up while I fetch the rest of my officers."  
With that, he glared at them both for a second before turning on his heel and marching off.  
Once Holly was loaded with all the gadgets that could fit on her tiny body, Foaly paused her on her way out of the door to say goodbye before she faced the most recent mission.  
"Holly." He touched her arm to get her attention with a serious look on his face. "Look, I know you volunteered to do this, but promise me that if you feel you cant cope for much longer, report back immediately. Its not worth staying."  
"Foaly – "Holly began.  
"Promise me."  
Holly gave in. "Ok, I promise. And don't look so worried I'll be fine. This is what I'm here for, remember?" She threw him a grin and went to meet Root and her fellow officers.  
  
Just in seeing distance of the disturbance, Holly took some deep breaths and prepared herself mentally for what she was about to do. She looked around to see if everyone was ready. They were. As she looked, she saw Commander Root about to say something. Geez, she thought. The way people are talking you'd think that I wont come out alive! Giving a wave of goodbye, she threw herself off the building and flew towards the riot.  
The goblins saw her immediately and began to fire. Holly kept moving and dodged between all the goblins and their shots at her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the LEP picking the goblins off one by one. She hoped they'd hurry, she couldn't distract them for long.  
Then Holly saw something that made her heart skip a beat. One of the goblins had got a hostage. The goblins licked its eyeballs and nodded at Holly, holding a gun to the bead of a small girl. She looked barely ten. Then Holly made a huge mistake. She stopped. Another goblin shot her in the chest with his neutrino 2001.  
Holly's vision became blurry almost at once, but she kept sight of the girl. The goblin, thinking that Holly had been defeated dropped the girl to the ground. Holly, still fighting for consciousness dived towards the girl and managed to catch her by the collar. As she lowered the girl back to her parents, Holly saw Captain Trouble Kelp flying towards her. Her head swam a little more, then everything went black.  
  
Holly woke to hear someone moving around in the room. Her eyes were too heavy to open, and she could feel a light throbbing in her chest. She tried to ignore the throbbing by trying to remember what happened. Ah, that was it. She was shot by the goblin while catching that girl. Never mind, she'd live. Now she tried talking.  
"emlo" She heard the person in the room walk over to her, so she opened her eyes and tried to focus her vision. She was in the LEP hospital, looking up at one of the doctors. "Ah, you're awake, Miss Short. How are you feeling?" "Erm... ok ... I guess ..." "Good, good. Now, you remember what happened? Yes, good, that makes it easier for me to explain ... you remember the weapons the goblins were using?" "Neutrino 2001s" Holly grunted absentmindedly, realisation sinking in. "Oh no ... am I going to be ok? Have you found an antidote?" The doctor suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Ah, now, there we have a slight problem. We're working on it at the moment, but, erm ... you might experience some discomfort while we find it. Are there any family members or friends you could contact?" Holly shook her head numbly. She had no family left, and she doubted she had any friends prepared to come and visit her in hospital. "Very well, but I believe there are three people waiting outside to see you ... would you like them to come in?" "Sure, why not" said Holly, wondering vaguely who it could be while she sat up in her bed tenderly. Suddenly the door opened, and four hooves could be heard cantering through the ward. Foaly appeared next to her, and without hesitation threw his arms around her, holding her in a warm, strong embrace. Holly was so shocked, yet touched by Foaly's obvious concern that she hugged him back, her head nestled in his chest. They held their positions for a few minutes before they broke apart, Holly with a small smile on her face, and Foaly coughing awkwardly, going pink in the face. Then Holly looked round and saw Commander Root and Trouble Kelp looking at her, also concerned. That's funny, she thought, I could expect trouble to be like that, but that doesn't seem like the commander at all! Does this mean that he actually cares? Then she spoke. "Hey, Commander. You ok? I mean, you haven't shouted at anyone for at least five minutes now, you might get withdrawal symptoms!" Trouble smiled weakly, but Foaly took her hand looking anxiously at the Commander, who sat down on her bed and looked worriedly at her. "I see what you're doing, Holly, but now isn't the time for jokes. I don't want to have to break this to you, but things are very serious for you. We ... "Root hesitated. Obviously he had to tell her something she might not want to know. "We've had five cases of this weapon. Three patients have died, and the other two are still ill from it. A cure has to be found soon or..." His voice broke and he looked away. Holly stared at him in disbelief. She felt Foaly tighten his grip on her hand, and she held it close to her cuddling his arm as if it was a stuffed bear. "Holly?" Foaly seemed to be getting more worried by the minute. She looked up at the three of them, holding Foaly's arm even closer to her and spoke again. "What are the symptoms, and how long have I got?" Holly could feel tears pressing go escape her eyes, but she wouldn't let them. There was a strong possibility she would die soon and she was scared. But she wouldn't show it. This was what her job was all about. She could die any day in this line of work, and she came to terms with that a long time ago. Everyone was going to die sometime, anyway. Trouble and Root looked at Foaly, inviting him to tell her. As much as Foaly loved explaining things, this was one of the few times when he wished he didn't have to. He took a deep breath. "You have only been out for about ten minutes. All that's going to happen is that you are going to pass out more, and for longer. The throbbing you should be feeling in your chest will get heavier the more you pass out. After approximately a month, you'll pass out and ... erm .. you ... wont..." Foaly petered out miserably, not wanting to finish his sentence. Hearing this, Holly loosened her grip on Foaly's hand slightly and started playing with his fingers. "I wont have to stay in here for the whole month, will I? I mean, as long as I'm in someone's company, I should be able to move around, right?" Root considered it. "Where would you go Holly? We cant have you at work, we cant risk you passing out in a dangerous situation." Here Foaly cut in. "She can stay with me. You wont be moving around much, I'm afraid, but you'd have me to talk to. You might even be able to help a bit around the Booth." "That would be great ... please, Commander?" Holly said, clutching Foaly's arm close to her once more. Root looked at the way she was holding Foaly's arm to her. They were so close. It seemed only fair that Holly could be with her best friend in her last moments. The look in his eyes softened, and he relented. "Ok, but, Foaly, you must keep a constant eye on her, and call me immediately if anything at all happens. Anything." Foaly nodded. Holly smiled her thanks at the Commander. "Can I go now then?" Root glanced at the doctor, who considered it and nodded gravely. Holly swung her legs round and stood up, still holding onto Foaly. No one said anything, as the four walked down to the Ops Booth, three of them fighting back rebellious tears and Holly still clinging to Foaly's arm for support. 


	5. Suspicion

Ok, first of all, reviews:

**Identity99:** Ruth didn't snap at Artemis when she was trying to get her key out of the door, it was more of an offhanded 'no', but then she spoke to him properly when she had stood up. I don't think I've reviewed any of your fanfics (really sorry about that) but I read through one of them and really liked it, so I put you on the thing that tells you when you've updated! If that makes any sense! Can't remember which one it is though, I wont look now because otherwise I'll never get on with the fanfic!

**Naigel:** He has had time to trust Will and Tom, it didn't start from the start of the term, remember? Also, these two guys are the people who he spends most of his time with. Besides, I think they're really likeable anyway, hehe, don't you think? Artemis is considerably more perfect now, I'll admit, but don't worry, less perfect characteristics will show through soon enough.

**You are my ONE and ONLY: **I said in the last chapter, they are more spaced out, but they closed up when I uploaded it… I'm gonna space them out even more this chapter.

To all my other reviewers, thank you so much for your reviews! It's nice to know that this gets read.

I'm sorry It's taken a while to update, I haven't had anytime whatsoever what wth starting 6th form and everything. One last thing… Did anyone notice that I said early in the last chapter when Foaly was talking about the Neutrine 2001s that there had been no injuries yet, then when they were telling Holly she only had a month, I made them say that there had been three cases? I kinda contradicted myself there, and I'm sorry, if you noticed please ignore it, and if you didn't notice, pretend I never said anything! Thanks.

Artemis Fowl, Chapter 5

It was three days since the incident involving Ruth's head and a nail. In that time, the four students had grown closer still because the three guys spent the majority of their time together, and Ruth joined them as she hadn't really made any other friends.

It was 8:30 in the morning, and Ruth was in her Dorm room getting ready. Flicking through her wardrobe looking for something to wear, she glanced at her watch. She sped up. Her three friends were would be down any minute to walk to breakfast.

She picked out some jeans, and a black off the shoulder top. She had just put them on, when there was a knock on the door. It was Artemis, Will and Tom.

"I'll be out in a minute, I promise!" she said, beaming at them.

When she retreated back into her room, her two room mates had woken up, and were beginning to get dressed themselves. They were burning to say something to her as she finished getting ready, she could feel it. It wasn't good.

One of the girls, Louise, was in the middle of applying liberal amounts of mascara when she spoke.

"So. What did you do to get those guys to be your friends? How much did you have to pay them?" When Ruth didn't reply, she continued. "It must have been a lot, they're loaded, especially that Fowl, he's quite a catch. It's a pity you have to go to such measures."

Having heard enough, Ruth turned to face Louise. Keeping her voice cool and calm, she replied.

"Well it just goes to show that money isn't enough to win people's friendship. Will told me how you wont leave him alone in History."

Louise slapped her mascara down on the table and walked over to Ruth. She stood close, looking down at her, trying to intimidate her. Ruth stood there just as definitely, looking up up into her eyes fearlessly. At the same time, Michelle, the other girl in the dorm, walked up behind her. It was her time to speak.

"Oh he did, did he? I think you should watch your back, Ruthie, you may have managed, though I can't imagine how, to win over those three guys, but you haven't made any other friends here."

Ruth turned to face Michelle, who was more her height. "That's ok," she said, "I don't think I want to judging by the people I share a dorm with."

Before either of her room mates could reply, she had turned away from them and walked out of the door. Tom, Will and Artemis were talking outside, and turned to face her when she walked out. She paused outside the door, balled her hands into fists, screwed her eyes up and gritted her teeth while she disposed of the frustration her room mates gave her. After a second or two, she returned to herself, and walked over to her best friends with a smile on her face.

The three of them looked anxious. They saw her come out of her room and were worried about what happened. Tom was the first to say anything.

"Hey Ruth. Are you ok? You looked a bit… stressed when you came out of your room." He laid his hand on her shoulder, and watched her reaction.

She looked back at him and into his eyes, seeing genuine concern for her. She looked around at Will and Artemis, seeing the same. Only with Artemis, something was different. She saw… suspicion? She couldn't put her finger on it, she just could see something there, and she wanted to know what it was. Artemis' mind wasn't as easy to discern as Tom and Will's.

"I'm fine" She said eventually. When they still looked at her, she continued. "Oh come on, guys, you know I have a few problems with my room mates, if you're going to be concerned about it every time I walk out of my room, you'll never be thinking about anything else at all!"

Tom and Will looked somewhat satisfied, but Artemis still had the strange look in his eyes. He stared at her dorm room with the same look, as though he could see right through it. This made Ruth want to figure him out even more. She tried to forget about it as they walked off to breakfast.

Artemis didn't talk much on the way. He was still thinking about Ruth. He knew that she wasn't telling them everything. He knew that her room mates were giving her more trouble than she was letting on. While Ruth was unconscious in his arms three days ago, something had occurred to him. He was reminded of when Holly's power had run out on the Chemical Train. Ruth's head wound seemed to heal abnormally fast. Within a couple of hours it had fully healed. Then there was her size. She was over a meter tall, but was still very small. Was it possible that she were a fairy? No, he told himself. Fairies have pointy ears, and heal wounds through sparks.

As they sat down at their table for breakfast, he put it to the back of his mind. But not before making a mental note to check her records sometime later in the day.

* * *

"Pass me a carrot?"

"Huh?" Holly and Foaly were in the Ops Booth. It was a couple of hours since Holly had woken up, and neither of them had got any work done, despite how hard they tried. Holly was staring blankly at her paperwork, and was suddenly alerted back to reality by Foaly's whinny.

"The carrots. Can you pass one to me please?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Holly reached a carrot out of the bag next 2 her, and bit off the tip before handing it to Foaly.

Foaly looked at her chewing the mouthful of carrot slowly, and tried to discern the emotion he could see in her eyes. He hadn't seen it before. Where he usually saw a fierce determination, he saw helplessness and defeat. This wasn't the Holly he knew. It wasn't the Holly anyone knew.

"Holly. You're very quiet, are you feeling ok?"

Holly swallowed the mouthful of carrot, and stared at the papers in front of her for another moment before answering, her voice growing louder as she went on.

"A cold I could handle. A hit fairy, I could handle. Hell, I even handled being kidnapped by Artemis Fowl. But dying from something that I can't do anything about except to let it run its course? I can't handle that. I'd rather be shot and killed in action than this."

Foaly looked at her, at a loss for words. Holly didn't deserve this, she'd helped too many people, and worked too hard.

"Look Holly, I can't possibly imagine how you must be feeling. It's got to be so hard. But at least this way, you have time to spend time with the people you're closest to, and can say goodbye. And you never know, they might find a cure! They're working on it as we speak!"

"I know. I'm grateful for that. This just has to be one of the least respectable ways to 'go' though this line of work when you're only my age."

"It's not! That would be running away. Holly, you put your life on the life to save an innocent life, it just so happened that you were unlucky this time. It doesn't stop you from being one of the best officers the LEP has ever had though. You've got to be the best thing that has ever happened to the LEP, I feel so bad that this had to happen to you. "

Holly suddenly stood up, her face was flushed with anger. "Damn it Foaly, don't pity me! I'm ashamed enough as it is." She stormed round the desk and started to walk across the room to the door, but stopped half way, holding her hands out for balance, as her vision suddenly went blurry and dark.

"Whoa… Foaly?"

Foaly was running across to her she collapsed. Foaly got there half a second later, throwing himself on the floor next to her as he checked her vital signs. As soon as he was sure she was ok, he crossed shakily to the intercom.

"Commander, report to the Ops Booth immediately, and bring some medi warlocks with you. NOW!"

He crosses back over to Holly, gently picking her up and carrying her over to the horse sized sofa at the end of the booth. For the second time that day, he was fighting back tears. This had got to stop, if he went to pieces every time Holly blacked out, he wouldn't get anything done over the next month. He sighed, hoping that they would find a cure. Holly was his best friend, if he lost her, he wouldn't have anyone.


End file.
